Tears of Angels
by xxDawnxOfxHopexx
Summary: "  I remember dreaming of a girl with beautiful white wings. She was always crying. I thought she was meant to save me, but the reality was that I was meant to save her." -Riku/OC- !Rewrite!
1. Prologue: Awakening

Tears Of Angels

Prologue: Awakening

_**When I close my eyes to this paradox place…  
I'll fly away, far away from here…**_

"I can't believe it. Their connection is so strong that they woke up at almost the exact same time. The idea that someone could feel another's heart in such a way, when they weren't connected at birth, it's incredible."

"If research is correct, it's how all born in her world are. They're hearts are strong and their emotions are stronger. Their ability to love and their trust in that love, it's the strongest thing I've ever seen. The strongest emotional bond we've ever studied. It's amazing though, that their connection has become this strong…"

"She's growing weaker every passing moment, the longer she's away from his side."

"She is. It is her fate. You see, her heart is too strong for her body. It is stronger than anyone else who is from her world. This is why she can't remember me or anything from her past."

"But she remembers them…and you said every time her heart takes her to a new world she forgets."

"As I said, their connection is strong. Unfortunately, there are more…troublesome matters on our hands. She's being targeted by the Organization."

"What should we do then? We have to keep her safe."

"Call her here while there's still a chance to save her."

"But I thought that only he could!"

"Only he can, but he'll come. He will come."

_**I get away and dream, dream of you…  
When it's all said and done and the night has come…**_

_Riku stared around the area after having passed through the door. It was a familiar place, one that he'd been in so many times before and yet it seemed so strange to him. It was almost as if he'd never been there before and yet he knew he'd lived there for almost a year. "This is…"_

Yes, it's Hollow Bastion. It's the room that Maleficent gave you, to be exact. It must be nice to be back in your old bedroom, am I correct?

"_Not really. Sorry, but these memories I could do without." Riku sighed as he looked around the room once again and tried his hardest to force back the thought of the room and everything that happened there. He found it to be a much harder task than he thought it would be originally. _

To reach the outside world, you passed through the door to darkness. Here you lived, tempted by the darkness she offered you. You left everything behind you, all in pursuit of darkness. You had but one final chance, and you eventually let her fade away as well.

"_But I cast the darkness aside too! I've given everything up again to make it right! I'm not who I was back then…" Riku turned and left the room. "What are you trying to do, bringing me here of all places?" _

This place was created from your memories. Go and see what's in your heart. If you do, you'll be able to reunite with the ones you really wish to see.

"_I will!" Riku shouted at the voice, starting to feel his temper boiling over. He didn't take being played lightly, especially when the person who was messing with his mind had no physical form that he could see. The boy began to storm through the castle, finding nothing but Heartless in every room he entered. It was like being trapped in the past, and the more he fought the more he began to doubt. He would never see them again. As he finally reached the entrance hall, having all but given up, he finally saw someone._

_It wasn't who he thought he'd be seeing._

"_Did you think you'd see your friends? Too bad!"_

_It was Maleficent._

"_You."_

"_Who else? Your heart is steeped in darkness. You, like me, are one of the dark. You want me here. Who else but I can give you the darkness you long for." _

_The battled that followed was long and hard and took a much bigger toll on Riku's heart than he thought it would. All the while his mind remained stuck on the thought of Maleficent's words. If he never could see his friends, what would he do? Would he be stuck in this memory world forever? No. No he couldn't let that happen._

"_Never again!" He shouted as she fell before him, defeated. "You and your darkness have nothing to offer." His voice was proud, but in the back of his mind the thought remained clear. He'd never see them again._

"_**Then I'll disappear…  
Take flight on the wind of wishing you were here…"**_

_A smooth song echoed out behind Riku, a song that was like everything else in this strange memory world. It was something so beautifully familiar and yet so echoingly distant and strange. He turned around slowly, eyes landing on what was finally a familiar face. A girl with deep red hair and sparkling green eyes. A girl that he'd known from his past. She smiled softly, "Riku."_

"_You're alive!" He yelled in excitement, jumping forward and throwing his arms around her. "And you're here! I can see you! You're actually here…" _

"_No…" The girl said quietly, "I'm not the girl you're looking for, Riku. She is alive though and I know if you keep pushing forward, you'll find the real Aiko." Another bright smile, "She can hear you and feel you, Riku, wherever you are because of this pendant." Her hand touched the heart-shaped pendant that Riku had wrapped around his wrist. "She loves you…" _

_The last words struck him harder than any of the others._

"_After everything I've done?" _

"_Yes." She grinned and took his hand as her body began to fade into the darkness around him. "If you have to tell her anything, all you have to do is say the name…Aiko…she'll hear you. I promise."_

"_You're fading away."_

"_Of course. After all, I'm just a memory." _

_She vanished, leaving Riku alone in the silence. He stared at the black walls around him before finally looking up at the ceiling, towards where the sky and sun would be. "Aiko, if you can hear me…I'll make it up to you. I'm coming! I promise…I…" The rest of the sentence faded into the darkness. _

"_**Fading light…  
Like a star whose life has been gone for years…"**_

"And what about her? Do you think she'll even want to come?"

"We'll tell her we can take her to her precious Riku. It's our only choice, you know."

"That's a lie though…"

"Not fully. As I told you, Riku will come. She won't be able to see him right away, but he will come. That's the only problem."

"Do you think she knows about everything that's happened?"

"I'm sure those who found her in Hollow Bastion have told her everything she needs to know. All she needs now is to be told she's in danger. Terrible, terrible danger."

"Right…"

"_**And I'll fly, fly across the sky  
And I'll leave, leave it all behind…"**_

_Leon walked slowly around the castle in Hollow Bastion, where he and the others had been staying since Sora defeated Ansem and left to find Riku and the King. It was a task that he found himself doing often, wandering the halls rather aimlessly as he defeated the few Heartless that he did happen to stumble across. Though this time he found that he wasn't quite as alone in the castle as he thought. As the stopped in one of the halls near a room where the grounds were covered in shattered glass, a soft voice reached his ears._

"_**If you'll be here, here with me tonight…  
I'll be fine, I'll be fine…"**_

_He hurried after the voice, following the voice down the hallways and through the corridors until he found himself in the entrance hall. A young girl stood there with long red hair, staring up towards the ceiling. As he exhaled, she turned to look at him and smiled. "Hello…"_

"_Aiko."_

"_No. My name is Ailey, silly." _

"_Yes." The girl continued smiling before a sudden and rather upset look came across her face. "No…" She muttered and started coughing weakly. "You can't take me!" She staggered forward, "I have to find him. Riku…" The words had hardly passed her lips out onto the ground._

_Leon ran forward and swept the girl up. Little did he know, the girl in his arms was the answer to questions beyond his wildest dreams. Little did he know that as he held her, her life was fading from her body and she was beginning her decent towards death._

_**I'll be...**_

_**

* * *

**_****

Hey everyone! Now some of you may be wondering: Dawn, what the hell are you doing? We've already read this fic and you already have a different copy of it up, why are you putting up another one? The answer to your question is rather simple actually: I got Birth by Sleep and the game has encouraged me to keep writting this series of fics that I'm working on. Not only has it encouraged me to continue the series, but it has encouraged me to go back and fix the damn inconsistancies that now exist because of the new game, add some things, and fix the typos. So as a result, you all get a rewrite of **Tears of Angels! Are you excited? Cause I sure as hell am! I'm so excited I think that I may end up falling over and dying! So I hope that you enjoy this rewrite in all of it's glory. Thank you everyone! **


	2. Chapter 1: Sunsets and Silhouette Dreams

Tears of Angels

Chapter 1: Sunsets and Silhouette Dreams

**Ailey,**

**You don't know me, but I know you very well. I'm sure you have many questions about yourself, and I have all the answers that you need. You are currently in great danger; I ask that you come to Twilight Town to stay near me, where you'll be far safer. If you come I can help you find Riku.**

**I'll be expecting you,  
DiZ**

Ailey Aurora lay face down in the over grown green grass that engulfed the courtyard behind the old mansion in Twilight Town, looking quite like she'd died there. It was another calm day with the wind blowing softly around her. It was the third day of the first week of the second month she'd spent in Twilight Town and still she had no answers. Despite being so frustrated, she felt herself relaxing slowly as another forced sleep washed over her. She was trying, once again, to remember all the things that she'd forgotten.

It was an act that quickly managed to frustrate her, as it always did. Her daily practice of lying with her face in the dirt and trying to remember things always had a habit of annoying her. It wasn't something that she did of her own desire though; it was something that she did because DiZ instructed her to do it. He said something that reached her ears as a promise that the more she remembered, the more likely she was to get what she wanted. Sadly, it couldn't have been farther from the truth.

She tried to remember her life from birth to four, but couldn't get anything but the single memory that had haunted her since she arrived on Destiny Islands at the age of seven. The memory washed over her like a dream. She was standing by a beautiful ocean looking out as the sun set over the beautiful horizon. The young Ailey, about four years of age, had ice blue eyes and withered white wings on her back. She wore a dress the color of the setting sun, a crown of fine gems, and the same heart-shaped pendant that she'd given away.

A young man walked up to the girl and the memory began to fade. _"This is what is best for you. I will miss you, my dearest sister._" The vision faded as the sun fell behind the horizon and fleeting memories flashed before Ailey's eyes. Some of them were new and some of them were old, but all of them flashed before her lids like photographs. She saw a young girl of two with small and healthy wings, a beautiful rose garden, the man from before, a bright light, a sharp scream, and finally the visions were gone and replaced by new ones.

She now saw quick glimpses of her life from four to seven, most of the memories fluttering before her eyes were the ones she'd remembered about Squall while she was staying with him in Hollow Bastion. She also saw, as she often did, images of a group of six men wearing white coats and a pale man with blond hair. She knew the blond man and his name well now. He was "_Ansem the Wise" _and he was like a father to her. The memories faded and were replaced.

The ones that followed were crystal clear; she could remember everything from the age of seven to fifteen. She remembered playing on the islands with the boys and she remembered the day that his parents died. She remembered the night that the islands had been destroyed by the darkness and the time she'd spent lost in the void, moving from world to world. She remembered arriving at Hollow Bastion and she remembered Maleficent and the other villains. She saw herself passing out and waking two weeks later, being found by Leon in Hollow Bastion once more. The words of DiZ's letter flashed across her eyes and she remembered her arrival at Twilight Town. She could quote the explanation of what had happened in the two weeks she'd been gone as well as what had happened to Sora and the others in the added week she'd spent in Hollow Bastion. They faded and were replaced by ones of shinning blue-green eyes.

Tears filled her eyes, unnoticed by her, as she went through all her memories of Riku and all the things he'd done for her. All the things that had happened between them and all the times that she'd heard him. The memory that stood out the most was the moment he'd arrived in Twilight Town, as it had only happened a week previous. She remembered how week he was, the way she threw herself into his arms, the smile that fixed itself on her face. She could feel the warm of his body against hers, hear him as he tried to return the favor of singing her to sleep, see the sorrow in his eyes. These memories were the ones that pulled her away from the comfort of sweet dreams and she sat up, putting her face in her hands. The taste of salt was so familiar that she hardly noticed as thoughts danced around her mind. What if she was never to see him again? What if he didn't make it back?

"_She loves you."_

"_I'm coming for you, Ai."_

"_I can't stay…"_

"_I'll be waiting here…"_

"_You deserve to find someone better than me…"_

Ailey slammed her fist into the ground at her side and fell backwards, hoping or maybe even praying that she would drown in her tears. She'd come to Twilight Town because the great and all knowing DiZ had promised her she'd be able to be with Riku, but she'd only seen the boy once and it was a short lived reunion. All that she'd been able to tell him is that she'd wait while he carried on about how he wasn't good enough. Now, she had no idea what she was doing or why she was doing it. She didn't know what Riku was doing or why he was doing it. She was stuck in Twilight Town with DiZ. She missed Riku more than she could explain, but every time she thought of him or he came up in conversation, she felt as though someone was driving a knife through her chest.

Yet, thinking of him was the only way to force back the feeling of loneliness that continually crept up her spine and into her heart. The feeling of wanting to curl into a ball and cry for hours on end. The wish and desire to die. She thought of him and she thought of how desperately she wanted to see him. The pain she felt without him was more than the pain she felt when she thought of him and she thought that maybe if she kept him in her mind then he would come back. Naminé told her that he'd come back, but it'd been a month and hope was fading. It was all so repetitive. Every day she felt the same pain, ever day she cried the same tears, and every day she lost hope.

Again, she rolled onto her stomach in the grass and her body began to surge with pain. It was the pain she felt whenever Riku felt emotional pain, at least it was according to DiZ. According to DiZ, she and Riku had a strong bond, one made stronger because she'd given her pendant to him. The pain she felt was mixed with another pain, a pain that reached not only her heart but her entire body. It had taken over her body and was growing worse with each passing day. It was this pain that would kill her.

"_You're sick…" _Naminé had tried to explain to her, _"Your heart holds a power so strong that your body can't contain it all and this power is slowing killing you…"_

Ailey sighed softly as she thought about what it meant. So she was going to die? It wasn't that big of a deal, not at that point. At that point, all she could really think of was that maybe it was mean to happen. She closed her eyes again and started breathing in and out slowly. Her only regret was that she would die without telling Riku how she felt. The lack of memories had stopped bothering her long ago and she would give all her memories for one second to tell him how she felt. It was hopeless.

She tried to remove all thoughts from her mind so that she could sleep again, but was interrupted by a dreaded, annoying, old, and almost grandfatherly voice. "Did you fall asleep while training or have you finally managed to kill yourself?" He body went tense and she tried to pretend that she was indeed asleep, but in the back of her mind she knew that it would only show that she was awake and alive. She didn't move though, hoping maybe the old man behind her would leave her alone.

He didn't and her rage boiled over as the old man's eyes watched the back of her head. It was a rage caused by his ignorance towards her feelings. She was nothing but pawn to him and she knew it. Even still, she couldn't help but feel some kind of attachment to him. It was like she couldn't let go and hate him like she wanted too.

"What do you want?" Ailey finally snapped, rolling over to gaze at DiZ with such piercing and viciously violent eyes that DiZ himself staggered backwards slightly and had to take a moment to regain his composure. She rolled her eyes, refusing to get up no matter what it was that DiZ was about to tell her. She had been on a sort of strike, refusing to do anything but sleep and eat for the last week. For the first few days, honestly, she'd refused to do even eat until she finally passed out in the middle of town.

"Calm down." DiZ started lightly, trying to regain and maintain his distant persona. Ailey raised an eyebrow at him, sitting up and looking at the keychain sword on her belt. She glanced up at DiZ, waiting for him to speak again before glancing down. All she had to do was grab the sword, watch it grow to its proper size, and strike him down. "You have no right to be mad at me, Aiko."

"And _you_ have no right to call me Aiko!" Ailey said as she looked down again at her keychain before springing into the air with a great deal of momentary straight and landing lightly on her feet, her back facing DiZ. "Because my name isn't Aiko. It's Ailey. I have no right to call you…what was your real name again…An-something…" She thought hard, throwing another glance at her keychain before looking over her shoulder at DiZ, who had a smirk on his face. "Ansem!" She finally shouted after several minutes. As she spoke the name, she broke into another fit of coughs and dropped to her knees.

DiZ watched her struggle to breath for a moment, intent on distancing herself from the girl as much as he could. When she finally caught her breath, she turned her face to him. "Some father you are!" Her voice was harsh and her hand flinched towards the keychain before stopping. She had to think of the proper words to say. All she knew from her few memories she had of Ansem the Wise was the he was a father because he was the only fatherly figure she'd had in her life. The only fatherly figure she had in her life that she could remember. He'd never been her real father, but he had been her daddy at a time. Finally, she pushed to her feet and faced him. "You don't even care. It's hard to believe you ever did. All those stories you told me, they're probably all lies…"

DiZ turned away from Ailey, the words hitting him hard in the chest. He turned in time to watch her as she walked away with grace quite uncharacteristic to someone who was slowly having the life drained from her body. He shook his head and turned his eyes to the sky above the courtyard. "You'll learn someday, Ailey." He muttered quietly, "I was never good to you…a horrible father at best…"

Ailey managed to storm inside before another wave of paralyzing pain hit her body and she dropped to her knees, tears filling her eyes. A sort of panic came with the pain, the kind of panic that you get when you know you're going to die soon. She sobbed silently as she pulled her body into a ball, unable to speak due to the pain in her throat. All she could hear was a deafening and bitter silence surrounding her.

There was no such thing as a happy ending, and the fact that happily ever after was impossible was the only thought that ran through Ailey's head as she cried. She was unable to do anything other than feel quite hopeless and lost in life. She would end up dead before she could do anything useful for anyone, before she ever got to do anything good with her life. She would die without anyone to cry for her or hold her hand. She would die without him…

"_If you want me to come back, then I will…I promise. It'll be a while, but I promise."_

Riku…

"_I'll be here! I promise too!"_

Would he miss her? Would anyone really miss her? What about Sora and Kairi? Would they miss her? Did they want her to come back to the islands with them? Did they care that she was in such terrible pain? The tears became heavier as she realized that she would never be able to tell them goodbye. She would never be able to keep her promise to Squall. She would never be able to get her dearest wish.

"For that which I love, I will do all that I can…" Ailey staggered to her feet and moved towards the room that she'd clamed as her own, her thoughts still resting on Riku. She stopped before the cracked mirror on the wall and gazed into almost as if she was trying to remember what she looked like. Gazing back at her was a hopeless looking fifteen-year-old girl with long, slightly curled red hair and deep green eyes. As she looked away from the mirror something white caught her eyes and she looked back. In the reflection she had withered and weak white wings, but as she felt her back, nothing was there.

-.-.-.-

"Alright, Riku! I think we'll be good! Why dontcha rest? Ya look tired."

"Thanks Mickey." Riku breathed out quietly, gazing down at the small king with bright eyes before sitting down on the ground. He leaned back, putting his weight on his hands and nodded. They'd set up a nice camp that they would be able to stay near for the night. The fire was big enough to last while they would need it and they would be warm. The king was right, they had done well. Now it was time to give their feet a rest.

"_For that which I love, I will do all that I can."_

The boy didn't so much as blink as a soft and teary voice echoed through his mind, a voice familiar from two places. The voice was followed by memories of his childhood, memories of his dreams, his dreams before Kairi arrived on the island. He remembered dreaming of a girl with red hair and light green eyes. A girl with beautiful white wings and a gorgeous voice. The girl would sing to him in his dreams and he'd listen eagerly, always enjoying the sound of her voice. Before he could talk to her though, she'd fly away. It was always the saddest thing to watch her fly away, because she would cry as she did so, like she was never to return again. Riku hoped and prayed that the girl was real so that someday, when he was strong enough, he could keep her from crying.

Then, when he was six, Kairi arrived on the islands and Riku soon began to forget about the angel. Kairi took the dream's place in his heart and he wanted nothing more than to see Kairi safe and happy. His heart remained set on Kairi up until recently, when he realized that she was in love not with him, but with Sora. The realization itself was very sudden and extremely painful. It fueled Riku's jealousy of Sora and would've driven him off the edge and face first into darkness if it wasn't for what followed the realization. Following the realization that Kairi would never love him was a realization that the person who did love him was right there and fading fast.

The whole ordeal made Riku laugh now. It would seem as if the real angel was there all along and if he would've been able to see that then things might have been different. Either way, Kairi's place in his heart now belonged to a different girl. A girl with tear filled green eyes. He wanted to be with her. He wanted so dearly to take her in his arms and comfort her and make sure that she could never cry again, but he couldn't and he was reminded of it everywhere. Everywhere he looked he saw her eyes and no matter what he did, he couldn't banish them from his mind.

Riku sighed quietly, eyes moving up towards the sky. He'd chosen to leave her because she deserved someone who could watch over her and do all the things that he couldn't do. He'd decided that it was the best choice, but every time he thought of her guilt plagued his mind. She was probably still with DiZ, waiting there. That meant that he could go back to her if he wanted, but he couldn't bring himself to burden her with all of his problems. He'd already seen firsthand that his darkness was too strong for her and he couldn't put her through so much pain again.

Riku cleared his head as well as he could and forced his thoughts onto Sora, who was sleeping blissfully while his memories were put together piece by piece. Sora was such a slacker. Even after being told to watch out for Kairi, he decided that sleeping was better and left Riku to do all the work. Things were exactly as they had been on the island before they'd left. Sora was still as lazy as ever. Riku's thoughts began to move towards DiZ and Naminé and for a moment he wondered if they'd need help putting Sora's memories back together right, but he tried to chase those thoughts back. They brought up emotions he didn't want to feel and words he didn't want to hear. The words and thoughts of DiZ and Naminé brought his momentary calm to a swift end.

"_She's very sick, Riku. You know this, of course, but what you don't know is that you're the only one who can save her. When you're around she's so much stronger than she is when you're not and if you don't save her…"_

"_Kill me. Please kill me…" _

"…_She'll die…"_

Riku's body went tense as the words echoed through his mind and for a moment he became unaware of what exactly was going on. He didn't even take not of Mickey's gaze from across the fire as his eyes filled with tears and he bit down on his lip. The king was watching him though and could see all the tears in his eyes easily. "Riku, what's buggin ya?"

Riku jumped at the sound of his name and his eyes scrambled to meet Mickey's. He voiced the word "nothing" as quickly as he could and tried valiantly to regain control of his emotions. Despite all of his effort, he couldn't force the tears from his eyes. Mickey gave Riku as skeptical look and the boy looked away from him entirely. "It's Ailey."

"What about her?" Mickey asked uneasily, wanting to help his friend.

"She's crying, Mickey. I mean, I can feel her crying…for me…" As the last two words left his mouth, a wave of regret washed over his body. His tone was grave and suggested that the statement he'd made was far more terrible than it at first seemed. "I don't understand, Mickey. Why me…?"

"You know the answer to that, Riku." Mickey said quietly, looking up at Riku with bright eyes.

"_She loves you."_

Riku didn't speak. He instead stared into the palm of his hand at the ornate, heart-shaped pendant that rested there. He kept his eyes upon it for a long time, thinking about everything that had happened and all the feelings that surrounded that one little pendant. He closed his eyes and flinched as a pain hit his body and instantly uttered, "I'm fine." to reassure Mickey. Once he recovered from the pain, he sat up slightly. "Mickey, have you heard how bad Ailey's…condition…is?"

"Her condition?"

"DiZ told me…" Riku paused, the words of Ailey's fate running through his head again. The moment she uttered those words, the moment she begged him to kill her, and the moment he was told that without him she would indeed die all floated across his mind again. "…she's dying. He says that she's dying because I'm not there."

"I'm sure it's not your fault!" Mickey protested, looking up at Riku.

"And then Naminé told me that I'm the only one who can save her…" Riku continued trying to fight a losing battle against his emotion, the pain in his chest slowly sharpening. It took him a moment to gain control of himself, but once he did his eyes moved to Mickey's for the first time during that conversation. "But I can't save her. I'm not good enough."

"Riku…"

"And when I saw her, she was weak and she was hurting but all she cared about was that I was there. All she cared about was me and that I was safe and that I was with her. All she cared about was seeing me. I still couldn't stay though. I couldn't stay because I'm a coward. Now…" Riku paused and yanked his emotions back from the bridge of tears, "I don't know what to do."

"What does your heart tell ya?" Mickey asked slowly.

"I think that…I love her…" Riku said after gazing at his friend and only company for a while. "I didn't understand it for the longest time, why she was so important to me, but now I know. I know that I've been so worried about her and she's so important to me because I love…her…"

-.-.-.-

"You don't realize how easy you have it, do you?" Ailey's eyes fluttered up from the notebook in her hands to Sora's body above her as she spoke. Normally, DiZ didn't want her to be in the chamber with her sleeping friend because he was worried that it would disturb his sleep, but she didn't really care. She needed to see a familiar face and the only one that was around for her to actually see was Sora's, even if he was sleeping. "What am I saying? Of course you don't realize how easy it is for you. You aren't even aware of what's going on right now."

"Ailey, where are you?" Naminé's voice reached Ailey from the hallway and she straightened her back, but didn't move much otherwise. She knew that the other girl was probably looking to comfort her in some way. Perhaps to assure her that Riku would come back soon. That someday soon they'll be together. It was surely all a load of bull. "Ailey?"

"I'm in here, Naminé." Ailey finally responded after letting the blond wander up and down the hallway once or twice. When Naminé entered, she moved behind Ailey and gazed over her shoulder. The red-head was writing out song lyrics in beautiful handwriting and her hand moved across the paper in a way that seemed almost as if she was drawing and not writing. "Do you need something?" Ailey asked quietly.

"No…" Naminé responded softly, "I was just wondering where you'd gone off too. What are you doing?"

"I'm just…writing something down…" Ailey said quietly, breathing in deeply. She felt the other girl reading over her shoulder and stopped so that Naminé could do so, shaking her head slightly with a weak and weathered smile.

**If these memories aren't real  
Then what am I feeling now  
Waiting in the darkness  
The answer fades away…**

"It certainly is interesting…" Naminé said under her breath, studying Ailey's handwriting. It was long, loopy, and beautiful and the shapes of the letters and words were almost as visually appealing as some of the best paintings that Naminé had seen. The blonde's eyes drifted towards the pod in front of them and for a moment Naminé stepped forward to touch it. "You know he…"

"He looks so peaceful, doesn't he, Naminé?" Ailey cut Naminé of, staring up towards the boy as well.

"He does…" Naminé turned to look at the girl again.

"He's lucky…" Ailey continued softly, "Just sleeping the days away while someone else works so hard to put all of his memories back. He's lucky to have someone who can put his memories back together in the right order. I don't have someone like that…and whatever DiZ knows…he refuses to tell me. I wonder if Sora will thank you when he wakes up…"

"He won't…" Naminé muttered, turning away from the pod and Ailey.

"Don't say that, silly! You don't know Sora very well if that's what you think. The only way he wouldn't thank you is if he…"

"Forgets?" Naminé looked up again, eyes wide and sad. "That's what must happen, Ailey. He'll forget because he doesn't have a choice in the matter.

"I didn't realize…" Ailey leaned back.

"I have to remove his memories of me so that I can put his memories of Kairi back where they belong. When they wake, none of them will remember who I am…"

"_In a limited amount of time, this memory is like one picked up today and left in the past, and the existence of me who wanted here, will be erased from your heart forever…_" Ailey's voice cut Naminé off again, but this time she was singing and not talking. She was singing and her eyes were filled with tears. It took Naminé a moment to realize that Ailey was in pain again. Her face grew pale slowly, but she kept her eyes locked on Naminé. "Someday he'll thank you…somehow…I promise…I…"

"Ailey!" Naminé ran forward and grabbed the girl by the shoulders.

"I'm tired, Naminé. I'm tired of everything…" Ailey's voice shook, but she did her best to stay sitting up straight. "I'm done, my end is coming soon."

"Don't talk like that, Ailey…"

"It's true, Naminé…" Ailey's eyes welled up with tears, "I don't know where I belong and my memories don't hold the answer like DiZ said they do. They're all so sad, too sad, it's so depressing. I don't…get it. Why is my life so sad?"

"It's alright." Naminé smiled gently, "You'll be alright…"

"I'm going to die with no memory of who I am…"

Naminé took a few steps back and sighed. For a moment she wondered where the headstrong girl she'd met before, the one in Sora's memories had gone. Ailey had always been so determined to live and take care of everyone but then she suddenly gave up. Now, the Ailey sitting before her looked so defeated, so sad. "You have to trust me. Riku will come before it's too late. I promise."

"You think he will?"

"I think so." Naminé smiled. "You should probably head to bed and get some rest…"

Ailey nodded and pushed up to her feet uneasily, waving gently to Sora before leaving slowly. Once she was gone, Naminé turned again to Sora. "I know that he will."

-.-.-.-

Riku pulled out of his memories and moved his eyes from the stars back to Mickey, who was sleeping nearby. Riku's favorite memories of his time with Ailey, when she was Aiko, and the earlier conversation with Mickey had been floating around his head for hours, no matter how hard he tried to force them back. He wanted to go and help her but he wasn't ready to face her. He was afraid that she'd be disappointed. "I need to go help her…" He finally muttered softly, "Trying to rid myself of Ansem is impossible. I can't keep chasing such a foolish goal while she dies waiting for me."

"I understand." Mickey said quietly, rolling over to face Riku. The boy didn't seem at all surprised that he'd been listening the entire time.

"Thanks, Mickey…" Riku said quietly, rising to his feet.

"Wait!" Mickey jumped up to his feet and reached in his pocket, pulling out a long, black strip of cloth. If ya plan on goin' back, Riku, I assume that ya won't tell her what's really happened. If that's what you're gonna do, then take this! You can lie with your voice, but…if you lie with your eyes, I don't know what'll happen…"

Riku took the strip of black cloth and turned it over in his hands before tying it over his eyes and nodding. He would do anything it took, even if that meant going as far as using every bit of the darkness in his heart. "I'll see you around then." He said towards the King before opening a Corridor of Darkness and walking through it.

"Good luck, Riku!"

* * *

**There actually aren't many differences between this one and the original chapter 1. Okay...that's a lie, there are quite a few differences, but this is still based on old content! Ehem! For all of those who are new readers, I hope you enjoy the story and I hope I update for you faster than I did for my previous set of readers. If any of you are old readers, I'm very thankful to have you guys around!  
You all know that every Author loves to get feedback, so send some my way!**


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